Showing posts with label Marijuana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marijuana. Show all posts

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Guns And Weed - The Road To Freedom



From the above trailer: "I was an undercover narcotics officer [secret police - Ed.], the Drug War is nothing but a farce."



Suggested by a post at Libertarian Punk. Commenter Bob Mulroy recommended the site in the comments at Guns And Drugs.

Update: You can watch the whole movie here. Just click on the Play All button at the top and the whole movie will automatically play in segments. The www site for the movie is here.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Regulatory Capture

This is a story of street level crime by officers of various government anti-drug organizations in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
After evidence of the officers’ misconduct came to light, federal agent Brandon McFadden pled guilty to drug conspiracy and testified against other TPD officers. An excerpt from former Agent McFadden’s guilty plea reveals his involvement in the scandal:
From January 7th of — to May of 2008, I conspired with others, including Tulsa police officer, Jeff Henderson, to distribute methamphetamine in the Northern District of Oklahoma. During the time period . . . I used the position as a special agent with ATF to further the drug conspiracy and abused my position as a special agent. During this time, myself and Henderson seized drugs and money which were kept for our own personal benefit, falsified investigative reports, and failed to document events, and obstruct justice through falsely [sic] testimony under oath and persuading other individuals to do the same.
Ah. But it gets better (or worse - depending)
Larry Barnes and his daughter, Larita, have been deeply affected by the Tulsa scandal. Larry and Larita were imprisoned because several TPD officers fabricated a drug buy and coached an informant to lie about the buy. The informant later recanted his testimony and admitted that TPD officers told him to lie. As a result, Larry and Larita Barnes have been released from prison.

However, Larry and Larita were not the only individuals affected by police corruption in Tulsa. Many more were wrongfully convicted based on the lies and false testimony of TPD officers. In fact, since 2009, almost 40 people have been released from prison or had their cases dismissed.
I'm sure this was just an isolated incident. After all, America has the most moral people and the most moral police in the world. Especially in Oklahoma. The Buckle of the Bible Belt. Just a few bad apples. Besides it is probably worse elsewhere in the country. Uh. Oh.

Houston, We Have A Problem

It looks like some police in Houston love pot as much as the people they arrest for it.
Police say Hill told them he was a weed dealer and that he'd just taken delivery of his supply earlier that day.

Three other people in the apartment were allegedly holding drugs, and a thorough search of the apartment turned up a couple of shotguns, an unknown quantity of 'shrooms, around $940 cash, a little more weed, and an assortment of bongs and pipes.

What this official report does not mention specifically is the tray of pot brownies Hill says the cops seized and ate right in front of him and his fellow suspects.

All of this would emerge in Hill's conversations with his lawyers Daniel Cahill and J. Julio Vela. Cahill was disbelieving at first -- although only 19, Hill has a little bit of a precocious record in drug arrests -- but investigated his client's claims nevertheless. And now he says he has what might be a smoking gun.

Hill told Cahill that after eating the brownies and arresting him and two of his buddies, the cops got on their in-car computers and started squawking about how stoned they were.

KTRK's Ted Oberg got a hold of the transcripts:

"So HIGH...Good munchies," typed one at 2:44 a.m.
And why shouldn't they get baked on pot brownies? After all the supply is free to police. As long as they are willing to steal. If they had avoided arresting the kid for dealing pot they could have gotten away with it. Just a cost of doing business. In fact the police could probably have arranged for a regular supply free of charge had they thought the whole deal through.

A Local Comes Out Against Marijuana Prohibition

As you may or may not know Black support for the pResident is falling off a cliff. If the Head Man doesn't do something about it soon he is a goner in 2012. So imagine my surprise when a local Black who writes an editorial column for the Rockford Register Star, Ed Wells, has come out against Marijuana Prohibition. You can find details at the link.

What other Blacks are against Drug Prohibition to varying degrees?

The NAACP

Blacks in Government

Charles Blow at the New York Times

Wilton D. Alston at Lew Rockwell

It looks to me like the Black community is begging the President to change his tune on Drug Prohibition. It will shore up his waning support among Democrats and if the discussions around here are any indication it will split the Republicans. The Republicans who stick with Prohibition will be branded racists. That should motivate college kids who are itching to recreate the anti-racism of the 60s. Not to mention that enforcement is targeted at their age group.

The President will have a perfect opportunity to change his tune following the showing of the Ken Burns movie “Prohibition” about Alcohol Prohibition airing on PBS starting on this Sunday 2 Oct. Check your local listings. And follow the news on it (I probably will be posting copiously on it - sorry about that).

It should be a very exciting election season.

H/T a friend.

Cross Posted at Classical Values